Completely His

"The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to Him. He wants to make them strong."
2 Chronicles 16:9

During my Bible reading this morning this verse stood out to me. It comes after many accounts of God's people going into battle against enemies who are usually bigger & stronger than they. When they fight in their own strength, having turned away from God, they lose. When they depend on the Lord, trusting that He is fighting for them, they win... every time.

We have battles to fight in life and in our faith. God doesn't say that when we love Him then the battles go away. He desires to make us strong. Then, when the battles are won, we have no one else to thank and praise for that but Him. When the Israelites gained victory over armies that were twice & three times their size, they knew the Lord had fought for them and they gave Him the glory.

Giving ourselves entirely to God for His purposes allows us to see and do things that are far bigger than us. He WANTS to make us strong when we COMPLETELY surrender to Him.

His strength helps us to forsake the things that we hold dear, yet hinder us.

His strength helps us give to those in need when we feel we need that money or time for ourselves.

His strength helps us go to foreign and difficult places to spread His glory, even when it doesn't make sense to the world.

His strength helps us forgive the unforgivable.

His strength helps us endure trials and testing we never thought we could handle.

His strength helps us conquer deeply-rooted sins.

His strength helps us love sacrificially.

His strength helps us trust in His provision.

His strength makes the impossible possible.

His strength lifts up the weak, the poor, the needy and does mighty and glorious things through them...

If we will only abandon ourselves completely to Him, His strength can be ours and we can live the most exciting life there is, watching Him do great and glorious things right before our eyes!